To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Losing in Order to Win
Script: Col. 3.1-15
Intro: What makes a person number one? Is it what that person champions?
The philosophy that a person holds? To be number one in China requires that one uphold Mao's teachings; in Russia Marxist thought; in South Africa the policies of the government and the doctrine of apartheid.
Avis may try harder but being number one is the prize corporations seek. A man or woman become number one in the corporate setting to the degree they are able to produce for their institution. The number one salesperson, manager, production engineer, teacher, surgeon, clergyman.
A person may be number one in the field of art, or science, or music, or literature, or politics, and be there because he has won the respect of his peers.
What makes a person number one? A salary above $20,000 a home in a respectable suburb known for its excellent schools, cultural advantages, and high taxes. Is it that person's classification that makes him number one? His religion, his color, his education, and whether he flies coach rate or first class?
We all know what it is to be number one in the eyes of another person.
We learn that very early by learning to read the body language of our parents, and the other adults whose influence bears heavily upon us.
But what makes a person number one in the eyes of God?
I. In God's eyes what constitutes being number one?
A. We'd rather not answer that question. Better to leave it to imagination
1. Better to keep that question open with no answers. For who can
answer it? And how many answers have we been given in times past?
Keep these rules...Say these prayers...make this pilgrimage...give those gifts.... Who dare say what makes for being number 1 in God's eyes?
2. In God's eyes what makes a corporation or a nation number 1. The gross national product? Unemployment rates? Stockpiles of nuclear weapons? Ability to control inflation? What about the Watergates of the present and the civil religion of the past?
3. With an idea that God is whatever you make of him, the answer to
the original question might well be, Take your pick !
B. But most of us in the church know better than that.
1. We have some suspicion about what is number one in God's eyes
and what we see before us does not quite match up.
2. No matter how elementary, in our minds we know there is a chasm between what is number one in our culture, business, and personal life, and what is number one in God's eyes. Even though we have marketed God, packaged him in crusades, television programs, and liturgies, theologies, and prayers, in our minds we know.
II. Paul has a prescription: Set your minds on the things that are
above.
A. The mind is a tricky thing.
1. With it you can create a whole world every aspect of it appearing to be real. is=t_^ge ^im^ ^n the

Losing in Order to Win
Script: Col. 3.1-15
Intro: What makes a person number one? Is it what that person champions?
The philosophy that a person holds? To be number one in China requires that one uphold Mao's teachings; in Russia Marxist thought; in South Africa the policies of the government and the doctrine of apartheid.
Avis may try harder but being number one is the prize corporations seek. A man or woman become number one in the corporate setting to the degree they are able to produce for their institution. The number one salesperson, manager, production engineer, teacher, surgeon, clergyman.
A person may be number one in the field of art, or science, or music, or literature, or politics, and be there because he has won the respect of his peers.
What makes a person number one? A salary above $20,000 a home in a respectable suburb known for its excellent schools, cultural advantages, and high taxes. Is it that person's classification that makes him number one? His religion, his color, his education, and whether he flies coach rate or first class?
We all know what it is to be number one in the eyes of another person.
We learn that very early by learning to read the body language of our parents, and the other adults whose influence bears heavily upon us.
But what makes a person number one in the eyes of God?
I. In God's eyes what constitutes being number one?
A. We'd rather not answer that question. Better to leave it to imagination
1. Better to keep that question open with no answers. For who can
answer it? And how many answers have we been given in times past?
Keep these rules...Say these prayers...make this pilgrimage...give those gifts.... Who dare say what makes for being number 1 in God's eyes?
2. In God's eyes what makes a corporation or a nation number 1. The gross national product? Unemployment rates? Stockpiles of nuclear weapons? Ability to control inflation? What about the Watergates of the present and the civil religion of the past?
3. With an idea that God is whatever you make of him, the answer to
the original question might well be, Take your pick !
B. But most of us in the church know better than that.
1. We have some suspicion about what is number one in God's eyes
and what we see before us does not quite match up.
2. No matter how elementary, in our minds we know there is a chasm between what is number one in our culture, business, and personal life, and what is number one in God's eyes. Even though we have marketed God, packaged him in crusades, television programs, and liturgies, theologies, and prayers, in our minds we know.
II. Paul has a prescription: Set your minds on the things that are
above.
A. The mind is a tricky thing.
1. With it you can create a whole world every aspect of it appearing to be real. is=t_^ge ^im^ ^n the